Shortly after completing a bike tour of Karakoram Highway in China and nearly a year to the day after our home was burnt to the ground by drug producers in the
hamlet of Allendale, Nova Scotia, Canada, we were informed that a close relative had become yet another innocent victim in the cross fires of the Mexican Drug War. This tragedy joined the
thousands of innocent lives, along with their familes, shattered by violence, corruption and dislocation that is the net result of the illegal drug trade.

Narcotics is not a “victimless crime". The illegal narcotics industry is a cancer that destroys the lives of consumers, communities where they live and
entire countries. As de facto refugees from the Drug War we know all too well the true face of the drug trade, not the recreational past time perceived by many consumers in the north,
rather a corrosive and destructive force that ruins the lives of millions.

The world of narcotics is NOT a victimless crime!

During our journey we will make presentations to youth. Using our adventure, my years of teaching experience and most of all our first hand experience
with the most sinister aspects of drugs and alternatives to them, as demonstrated by our journey, we hope to inspire youth to choose life, adventure, love for the planet and health
over drugs.

Cycling to Stop the Cycle does not take sides on the issue of legalization of drugs. These topics will be addressed in our
presentations to give students a better understanding of the complex nature of social-political and economic problems on the scale of the illegal drug trade. Our message, however is
much simpler - keep busy, challenge yourself, love the natural world around you and you won't have the need nor the time for drugs. Those same regions of the world dedicated to the
production of narcotics are beautiful lands full of adventure and honest people who would benefit more from a thriving eco-tourism industry than the short term "benefits" of drug
production.

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If we can reduce the demand for drugs by engaging youth in more wholesome pursuits young people on both sides of this drama will benefit.